Right. Cleric, Wizard and Sorcerer basically work the same way - you have a list of spells you know, and an array of spell slots of different levels per day you can use to cast them. The difference between them is that the cleric can choose their list of spells each day from the entire Cleric spell list; the wizard can choose their list of spells each day from their personal spellbook; and the sorcerer has a fixed, limited list of spells they know.
Man the minutia of knowledge here never ceases to amaze
Knowing a thing or two about your hobby isn’t really “minutia”, is it? I mean, I used those very rules in a game session just last week.
Generally for any RPG learning the rules works this way…
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You read the rules first.
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You play the game. You probably need to look up the rules frequently because you don’t remember them, or don’t trust your memory completely and want to verify that you’re right.
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Eventually you know the rules well enough that you only look up the rules for uncommon situations, or to resolve a dispute.
The time between 2 and 3 varies based on the complexity of the system. In 2nd edition AD&D where you had to go by charts to resolve almost everything, many folks in my group memorized the page numbers for the most common charts (THAC0, saving throws) which is extra nerdy IMO.
Yeah. What Chronos was correcting me on was that I was mis-remembering that clerics originally had to memorize specific spells the same way that magic-users did (although they had their entire spell list to pick from). I believe in later editions they could burn those spells on the fly as healing magic, thus making them more capable healers without spending every slot on memorizing Cure Light Wounds but I didn’t play those middle editions so don’t quote me. I’m pretty sure I played some games that house-ruled allowing clerics to pick spells on the fly (since you were praying then and there to your deity for help) which might be where I got confused. Or else I’m just old and haven’t played 1st edition in 20+ years.
There were also some prominent video games that worked that way, as a simplification.
And yeah, in 3rd edition clerics could spontaneously cast Cure spells, which was a huge simplification to a cleric’s preparations, but it only worked for cures. Similarly, druids could spontaneously cast their animal-summoning spells, which meant that you basically never had all the wrong spells prepared, because there’s always some critter or other that it’s useful to summon.
I am astonished to think not just how much stuff I could look up so automatically that it was like I just knew it, but how much stuff I did in fact just happen to know off the top of my head. I look at the stat charts now, even the simplified ones used in Baldur’s Gate, and my head spins. Yet, it’s mostly gone now. Character generation in AD&D would now be a tedious exercise to me where it was once something I could do in a rush just before a game.
You forgot the next step:
- A new version of the rules comes out, and you have to start all over again at step 1.
I’m looking for a Saturday game and I think I’ve exhausted my local options asking around.
I’ve heard Roll20 is kinda hit & miss for getting into a reliable game … and I haven’t learned how to use it yet.
Any experience there?
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I found a regular game group via my Neighborhood facebook group.
Two local FB groups and a Meetup group… no replies from anyone.
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I was thinking of offering to DM hoping to build a group and maybe someone wants to at least rotate at some point.
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I’ve definitely noticed that DMs are more in demand than players. There’s several groups running at my local game store once they get filled (which can often happen before they get on Meetup) then that’s it. Plus, some of these guys play 2-4 nights a week and take up spaces in multiple groups. I’m not implying that they’re doing anything wrong, just that there’s a scarcity of player slots out there.
DMing is, of course, a lot more work than just playing both during the game and in prep work. One thing that can work to your advantage is that the published adventures are popular (Lost Mines, Storm King, Dragon Queen, etc) so if you decide to run one of those then a lot of work is already done.
I currently DM for one player and I run a party NPC to round out the party a bit. We have done LMoP and we are about half way into HotDQ, and I’ve scratched the surface of both OotA and PotA with lead-ins.
Basically, I’d like to expand the group and be able to enjoy the game simply as a player as well as DM, rather than DM exclusively.
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Y’know, it’s kind of surreal to think that those are standard modules that other groups have played. I mean, I know the story of the Lost Mines of Phandelver and the Halls of the Dragon Queen. I know all sorts of interesting little details of them, and played a part in creating the stories. But others know those stories, too, and yet their details are completely different, and the parts played by entirely different characters.
What part did you play?
::cough::HOARD::cough::
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I played the part of Colt Kiernan, hotheaded adventuring archaeologist who’s obsessed with outing secrets. You remember him, right?
Ah, I was thinking you were on the WotC design team.
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